Agency : Unicef, New Delhi

UNICEF, New Delhi in partnership with Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR), Government of India decided to assess the priority of training and capacity development needs of the PRIs & other stakeholders to improve service delivery of WASH, health, nutrition, and education at all 3 levels of village, block and district in 6 selected states. The core of this assessment consists of the knowledge and awareness about the basic service delivery, central and state schemes, and service delivery benchmarks of services provided at household, Institutions, and community levels and the capacities of the PRIs to deliver such services. Training need aim to assess and identify, the gaps with respect to capacities of the PRIs and other stakeholders in this regard, and to inform the programmes to orientation, sensitisation, and training of the PRIs and other relevant stakeholder, a training need assessment of PRIs is required. Furthermore, the assessment aims also delve deeper in understanding the current training schedule, content, and institutional setup in National and state level. Similarly, also assess the monitoring mechanism of PRI work and core indicators  for a detailed understanding of the institutional capacities of PRIs.

IIHMR University, Jaipur implemented the study in six states named Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhan, Telangana, Maharashtra and Assam. The primary and secondary objectives of the study are:

Primary objective of the study 

To assess the priority trainings and capacity development needs of the PRIs required to improve service delivery of essential WASH services and other services in the areas of health, nutrition, and education in an efficient, sustainable, and equitable manner and provide recommendations to Ministry and state government to strengthen training initiatives and to NIRD and SIRDs for incorporation in training content.

Secondary objective of the study           

1. To analyze the extent of knowledge and capacities of the Panchayat members at all three levels village, block, and district levels on setting up and delivering of WASH and other (health, nutrition and education) services and delivery in communities and schools, anganwadi and public places. This will include the core responsibilities such as GPDP planning; resource mobilization and fund allocation; operation and maintenance and conducting IEC campaigns etc.
2. To analyze the institutional setup for training and monitoring at all levels of PRI, that includes existing training content, modality, including budgets and recommend mitigation of any identified gaps focusing on WASH and selected components from other (health, nutrition and education) sections.

• To identify issues that inhibit the participation of women in GPs for service delivery of WASH and other services and identify their capacities and enablers to increase women leadership and participation at GP level

1. To provide clear and implementable recommendations on
2. Topics on which training is needed, include an outline of the issues, classified by a justified order of priorities.
3. Recommend ways for carrying out/rolling out of the training in various phases to address knowledge and practice gaps by order of priority of PRI representatives
4. Recommend ways increasing the participation of women in supporting GPs in the WASH service delivery
5. Recommendations on the way forward to the Ministry of Panchayati Raj for planning training programs to capacitate PRIs.

IIHMR University, Jaipur conducted the TNA study with an explorative study design which was address through qualitative tools. Additionally, to understand the preliminary work done in the recent past, narrative review of literature was conducted. To accomplish the objectives of the study, IIHMR University in consultation with UNICEF and MoPR officials developed 12 different types of tools.

The TNA of the PRIs on WASH and aligned services related to Health, Nutrition & Education was carried out in 6 UNICEF supported programme states in different zones of India i.e., UP (North Zone), MP (Central Zone), Telangana (South Zone), Maharashtra (Western Zone), Jharkhand (East Zone), and Assam (Hill & North-eastern Zone). In all together, 6 districts, 6 blocks and 12 GPs were covered. For selection of District, Block and GPs, IIHMR University, Jaipur had consulted the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) and UNICEF, and based on common consciousness, respective District, Blocks and GPs are selected as per the criteria of aspirational or vulnerable district.  This study was executed with different stakeholders of PRIs i.e., PRI members (Sarpanch and Secretary), panchayat secretaries and implementation workers (permanent and temporary/contractual working with the panchayats, Health workers, medical officer in charge (MoIC), Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA), Anganwadi Workers (AWWs), block, district, and state level officials.

IIHMR University, Jaipur has collected information from 144 respondents all together apart from KII and discussions with SIRD officials of 6 states and faculties of NIRD&PR through pre-tested and approved qualitative tools such as Key in-depth interviews (KIIs). 22 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) was conducted separately with Male and Female in the selected GPs to get the opinion of the community pertaining to role played by PRIs at GP level during normal and pandemic time. 198 households’ members have participated in FGDs in 22 FGDs in total.